


Trust

by Patricia_Sage



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood Appreciation Week, Good Sibling Alec Lightwood, Hurt Alec Lightwood, Lightwood Family, Lightwood Siblings, Lightwood Siblings Feels, Malec, Protective Isabelle Lightwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 18:12:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12304806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patricia_Sage/pseuds/Patricia_Sage
Summary: "Isabelle Lightwood had never been more furious at her older brother."(Week 5 of Alec Lightwood Appreciation Weeks 2017)





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> This is my contribution to Alec Appreciation Weeks 2017.  
> Week 5: "Family"

Isabelle Lightwood had never been more furious at her older brother. This didn’t even come close to the time he put her lace top in the washing machine and unraveled it. Even the midnight curfew he set for her when she was partying at sixteen hadn’t made her as mad as she was now.

“How can you let Max go out on a mission? He’s 9 years old!”

“We were his age when we started, Isabelle. Max is no different.” He was sorting Institute files, and he didn't even bother to meet her angry eyes.

Isabelle thought of the day Max was born, how she cradled him in her arms and swore to protect him from anything that would harm him. She remembered holding his hands as he learned to walk. She remembered helping him memorize runes in the library. “It is different,” she said, “He’s our baby brother.”

Alec finally looked up from the papers at his desk. “We can’t shield him from everything. This is who he wants to be.” 

“Well I don’t want him to be dead!”

“Izzy.” Alec stood up and walked around his desk. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she looked away, irritated by his attempt to calm her down. “Even if we try to stop him, he’ll do it anyway. You know he will. He’s a Lightwood.”

She sighed and nodded her head. Stubbornness ran thick in Lightwood blood.

“And, besides,” Alec continued, “we have to ensure he knows he can trust us. That way, we can make sure that he’s as safe as he possibly can be. And we will be the first people he calls if he’s ever in trouble. That’s important.”

Isabelle looked into her brother’s kind, dark eyes and couldn’t help but smile a little. He would make such a good dad one day. 

She remembered being around Max’s age and wanting to go out on missions with her brothers. With Isabelle being the only daughter, her parents were overly protective of her and wouldn’t let her go. One night, she decided to sneak out with them. Jace was excited about it, but Alec was worried. Their parents locked the armoury every night in order to deter her, so she went on her first mission wearing jeans, a denim jacket, her stele and a small seraph blade that she was allowed to keep in her room. 

Sure enough, the Lightwood siblings got into a bit of trouble on that mission. What they had thought would be a few demons turned out to be an entire hoard. Isabelle remembered Alec trying to pull back a bloodthirsty Jace while simultaneously protecting his little sister from harm. She remembered his shout of pain and the blood that blossomed across his back. He was a scrawny, tall teenager, and he fell like a tree. They managed to escape to safety, supporting a bleeding Alec on both of their shoulders. They were frightened of how Robert and Maryse would react, so they called Hodge instead.

Isabelle wasn’t sure if Max would have anyone else to call.

That night was the first time Alec had gotten hurt protecting his family, and it wouldn’t be the last. “You’re right, Alec,” Isabelle said, “We’re his family; we need to be his allies too.”

“He’ll be fine, Izzy.” Alec smiled. “We made it out alive back then, and Max is ten times smarter than we were at that age.”

Isabelle couldn’t help but think of young Alec – soft-spoken and reserved, self-conscious and anxious. She looked at how proud and relaxed her brother stood now, smiling and confident in his professional and personal life. She punched him in the shoulder and told him the thought that had come to her earlier. “You’re going to make a great dad someday, Alec.”

Alec ducked his head with a blush and sat behind his desk once more. “Tell Max I wish him luck. And tell him to call me if he needs me.”

“Okay, big brother.” 

It was hard to stay mad at Alec Lightwood.


End file.
